You may be reading this to learn how Earth and the solar system were created. There is, however, much more to the story. Before Earth, there existed another planet, a much bigger one.

Towering creatures — colloquially known in human society as “giants” — slept in huts made of bundled straw and mud packed together. They lived in harmony. This foreign planet where they dwelt was called the Land of Grod after the family of giants that created it. The Grod family dated back generations and were around even before their planet existed, when there was only nothingness and space.

Back in those days, the Grods were almost content with living in space and had fun jumping, running, and chasing one another through their endless void under the dim light of the stars around them. But something was missing.

Members of the Grod family began to roam. For millenia, they harvested the powers of the galaxy until they finally had enough energy to form a celestial body. The particles the Grods collected were combined and then released to float across the expanse of space.

The Grods followed after these particles, curious to observe the fruit of their labor. The particles, scared by the Grod stampede, ran, jumped, and swirled. They shrieked and screamed, and clung to one another for support. Some created bonds, clumping together to become mountains and mounds, while others pressed themselves flat to form the floor and foundation. The outer vortex of particles solidified to form atmosphere. After the energy settled and the commotion calmed, the galaxy’s first planet was revealed. The Grods gleefully entered its atmosphere and congregated on their planet, overjoyed to finally resolve their feeling of incompleteness.

And so the Land of Grod was established, and a home for the Grod family created. The stars, twinkling up above with luminous, lambent light, smiled at the people of this new planet.

A society was soon formed. The planet’s founders, testing out their newfound skill of creating planets, made a snowglobe of sorts with a small planet inside, capable of sustaining life. The founders hid this snowglobe in the darkest recesses of the Land of Grod to keep it safe.

And so the miniature planet was conserved.

Thousands of years later, Henry Grod was born. He had unparalleled intelligence, though his curiosity often got him in trouble. While the other giants hefted huge rocks for fun, Henry explored caves, caverns, and forests with a backpack filled with favorite action figurines in hand.

One day, he ventured farther than usual and came across a trapdoor hidden under some rocks. Henry swung the trapdoor open and ventured inside the secret passage. The more he walked, the darker it became. Soon, all light was extinguished, save for a dim glow emitted from a cavern up ahead. Once Henry reached the cavern, he found a small globe attached to its ceiling. His curiosity got the better of him and Henry reached up, hitting at the globe, trying to detach it. Finally, it unstuck from the ceiling. Before Henry could catch the globe, it fell to the ground. The glass of the globe smashed upon impact, and a tiny blue ball rolled out.

Upon closer inspection, Henry realized with surprise and horror that he had found, and damaged, the legendary founders’ snowglobe. The tiny ball must be the miniature planet, thought Henry. He picked up the planet and attempted to brush off the cavern’s moss. It wouldn’t come off, and the more Henry attempted to remove it, the more it stuck to the planet. Now the blue ball had green splotches of land. Not wanting to further disturb the planet, Henry put it in his backpack and rushed back home.

When he got to his room, Henry dumped out the contents of his pack. His favorite figurines were missing. They had been dissolved by the globe, mingling with the planet’s internal energy, and had become animate. The five figurines reproduced, and soon a colony of humans was established. Other life sprouted up too, mixing with the planet’s particulate energy.

Henry showed the planet to the senior Grods. After realizing how Henry had altered this planet, the Grods decided to release it into space and allow the life it contained to thrive. They created a new glass ball for the planet, which they named “Earth,” to protect Earth with an atmospheric layer.

The Grods created several other tiny planets: Pluto, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Because Pluto was the first planet the new generation of Grods created, it turned out a little too small, though they still decided to release it into space. To provide Earth with light and humans with happiness, the Grods also created the Sun.

And so the solar system was established, and the humans of Earth created.

The Grods vowed not to disturb this solar system, as they could not imagine the humans’ fear if giants descended upon their land. Instead, the Earth and its fellow planets were forgotten, and left on their own.

And that is how the Grods’ snowglobe became Earth.